Trinamool chief whip in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay also made an attempt at saving face after meeting Singh, saying, “The PM agreed with our sentiment. He also categorically said there was a lack in coordination which needs to be improved.”

But Singh turned down TMC’s demand for setting up a coordination committee, although poor coordination was one of the issues Banerjee had raised while threatening to pull out from the UPA.

Asking the TMC MPs — with six union ministers among them — to act responsibly, Singh said power meant responsibility. He said a rollback of the petrol price hike was not a feasible option as tax cuts to bring down petrol prices would invariably affect social sector spending.

Singh explained that sustained under-recovery by oil companies would make them bankrupt. He said the government had so far only “tinkered” with the petrol prices as they did not affect the masses.

Singh even gave the example of Greece, where huge subsidies led to the present crisis.

Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi was the first to speak from the TMC side, narrating what transpired in the meeting of the empowered group of ministers on oil. The PM snubbed him, saying he could not reveal cabinet secrets.

Minister of state for urban development Saugata Ray said while the government was trying to protect the oil companies, the price hike ultimately hurt the people.

MoS for rural development Shishir Adhikary even spoke about reducing the oil companies’ expenses and bringing their salaries at par with other central government employees.